The narrative of the regional housing market in the final months of 2018 was one of record prices and falling sales, and December was no exception.

The latest monthly report from MarketStats by ShowingTime shows that the December metrowide median price hit a decade-high for the month, rising 5.9 percent year-over-year to $445,000. Prices went up by an even 6 percent in DC proper to $599,000.

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December sales and median price. Click to enlarge.

While home sellers might like record prices, home buyers do not. Closed sales fell 9.4 percent in the region in December. The drop was even more pronounced in the District, where 16.4 percent fewer sales closed year-over-year. Despite the drop in closed sales, new pending sales rose slightly in the DC area for the first time in five months; however, pending sales fell in DC proper by 5.4 percent.

While home prices are high, buyers can take solace in that they may have more inventory to choose from, at least in DC proper. While there were 3.2 percent fewer new listings regionwide in December 2018 than in December 2017, there were 16 percent more listings on the market in DC than the previous year.